hello, welcome to al jazeera. i'm richelle carey live from new york city. here are some of the stories we're following for you. looking into security measures and the navy yard shooting, how to prevent another tragedy. a manhattan sky scraper with secret owners now said to be seized by the government. ♪ searching for a motive while trying to prevent a future tragedy after the washington

navy yard shooting. the pentagon is reviewing security measures at all locations. aaron alexis has a history of behavior suggesting mental illness. fbi is now looking at his emails and other records, and so far have found no motive for the shooting. >> reporter: richelle, police are still around building 197 at the naval yard. they are still collecting evidence as the focus shifts to security checks. and our aaron alexis managed to clear background checks. federal investigators now think they now how he was able to bring the shotgun into the naval yard. he apparently diss a dr

disassembled the shotgun and later reassembled it. >> at this time we believe that mr. alexis entered building 197 at the navy yard with a shotgun. we do not have any information at this time that he had an ar-15 in his possession. we also believe mr. alexis may have gained access to handgun once inside the facility and after he began shooting. >> reporter: the attack and ensuing gun battle lasted more than half an hour, when it was over, 13 people were dead including alexis. the secretary of the navy is ordering a review of the security procedures in installations across the country. >> he is also considering a deeper review of physical and personnel security measures across the marine and navy

corps. >> reporter: because of the tragedy, president obama is again calling for review of gun laws. >> this becomes a ritual that we go through every three, four months, and yet we're not willing to take some basic actions. >> because he didn't have any felony conviction, alexis passed a background check. the subcontractor that hired aaron alexis says he had no knowledge of his problems with firearms or reports of emotional issues. richelle? >> randall there seemed to be so many warning signs. he didn't seem to hide the fact that he felt he had mental issues. why wasn't anything caught at any of the security screenings?

>> well, that is certainly the question that investigators are trying to determine. one of the answer that we're getting in the preliminary investigation is that he was not convicted of a crime. he was arrested for those misuse of those firearm issues in seattle and texas, but not convicted. and also he was never adjudged to be mentally unfit. so if that didn't happen, there was no way for a screening to pick it up, and the government is looking at some new procedures that will possibly pick up matters such as that in future background checks. >> all right. randall thank you so much. in about ten minutes secretary of defense chuck hagel will be holding a regular briefing at the pentagon, but nothing is regular on a day like this. we will bring you that as soon as it happens. in addition we're learning more about aaron alexis of course, and getting a better sense of who some of the victims were, the 12 victims and their lives

that they leave behind. >> reporter: many victims of monday's attack spent years and some decades serving their country. michael arnold was a 29 year veteran. his mother says he was a wonderful son, husband, and father. [ technical difficulties ] >> he loved his country, he loved the navy. >> reporter: martin was a naval officer who loved hockey and the bruins. and this man from india worked as a marine engineer. >> this is all an extremely difficult thing to process. i know for myself it's going to take me years to really come to terms with it. >> reporter: arthur daniels a grandfather of nine was shot in the back as he tried to escape. and chicago native kathy guard

worked as a financial analyst. john roger johnson from maryland was a civilian who a worked at the washington naval yard. >> our hearts go out to the folks and we'll go back to work when the base is open again. we'll do what we do each day to the best of our ability. >> reporter: in honor of these victims flags will fly at half staff until friday. and on capitol hill a group of congressmen and senator will told a meeting this year. they plan to call for tougher federal gun control laws. in colorado good weather is helping emergency crews access

towns cut off by torrential gain. 11,750 people have been evacuated and more than 1500 homes destroyed. jim hooley is live with more on this story. jim, are there still towns, homes, people that are still cut off? >> reporter: at this point, yes. that's correct. richelle, and right now we're just east of the town of lyons. and what you see behind me is people heading back. but they can't go back without this golden ticket. this is what is being handed out by the town by the bolder county sheriff's now. this is almost like a winning lottery ticket for these people that have been out of their homes for almost a week. lyons has been so hard hit,

bridges, homes washed out. so many people have been staying at hotels and with friends and family. a lot of these people, they are so grateful by all of the rescue efforts. some were taken out by big trucks and helicopters. a long line of people were here just a short time ago, they have to show their ids, and once they get into the town, richelle, they have been told to be careful. they cannot drink the water, and they have been told not to flush the toilets because all of the sewers have been washed out. it's a warmer day here today, the sun is out, and that will be a big plus for all of the rescue efforts still underway here in colorado. >> i'm sure there is so much anxiety because they don't know what they are going to find when they get back there. what are the challenges the state will face in rebuilding?

>> reporter: well, so much of the infrastructure, and so many of the roads have been washed out, especially up in the canyons here. the boulder county sheriff said a little while ago, it's not just that the roads are covered with water, there is a lot of mud. and these roads are simply wiped away, and that's why they have had so much trouble gaining access to some of these towns up here. >> all right. jim thank you. now we have chris barth live from boulder. let's start with these fluctuating numbers. we understand the number of dead has actually gone down, and also the number of unaccounted for has gone down. can you get us the latest on that? >> i can tell you, yes -- good morning, first of all. the latest number on the unaccounted as of last night was down to 109, and that's a great thing that the number keeps

coming down, and that's just through that process of those calls coming in about not being able to locate individuals being matched up with folks getting identified that they have been evacuated or been calling in to check -- to check in. >> that is a significant drop. might the number drop even more? are you hopeful? >> absolutely. in contamination of all of the volume of calls, matching that up with the folks that have been identified, and establishing better communications. >> once the waters reseed, what is the next step? >> they are poised and ready to assist with any additional evacuation. the life-saving effort is a very coordinated effort between many,

many folks here. what we're seeing is in the last couple of days, it seems like the folks that need and want to be evacuated, that has been addressed in large part at this time. again, they are ready to deal with that, if we find more folks. we're definitely going to be transitioning to a point where we start to look at those pieces as you mentioned. there's a fema task force working in coordination with all of these efforts and have been making preliminary assessment efforts. >> chris thank you so much for the update, and we certainly hope those numbers of people that are accounted for continue to go down as families are reunited. thank you so much. >> thank you. mexico has been hit by two tropical storms this week. parts of the country are

underwater. at least 50 people have died. the beach resort town of alco pullco was also cut off. >> reporter: here at one of mexico's premier tourist designations, people are desperate to get out. people have been trapped here for the past three days. now supplies are getting short. people are trying to get back. we're here at the military air base, and we have military plains that will be taking people out by the hundreds. they have used the planes to bring supplies in, and now they are using them to get people out. the people are desperate. they want to get home. they want to get out of here. let's check in now with nicole mitchell for more on

weather. >> we had a one, two punch already in mexico, and we're going to continue to see problems out there. one because one of the systems has redeveloped. here is the broader view. you have the combination of ingrid and manual moving over the area causing all of that flooding. manuel has redeveloped once it got back out over the water, we have lost that center circulation, but once over the water once again, the heat of the water helps fuel these storms. it is now a tropical storm once again. eventually it will turn over to the baja causing places such as cabo problems. this over this yucatan, we could see develop later today, but it could hit some of those same

areas already hit. a new york city high-rise is in a prime location. and the justice department may confiscate the sky scraper from an iranian group accused of concealing assets. the housing market is heating up. find out why competition is making it harder for some people to attain their dream of owning a home. hi, my name is jonathan betz, and i'm from dallas, texas,

welcome back. all eyes are on the pentagon right now. we're expecting chuck hagel and martin dempsey to take their seats in those chairs right there. in light of the shooting on monday, this will not be a typical briefing. there will be questions on how the shooter was able to get a security clearance, we'll keep an eye on that. the housing market continues to show steady improvement. the government showing construction of new homes increased last month, driven by a surge in single-family homes.

supply shortages are keeping builders busy. the housing market has been bouncing back from a long slump, but that doesn't mean buying is easy. natasha takes you to dade county. this newly built modern abode along the bay is ready for the taking if you have $35 million. whether you are a part of the 1% or the 99%, buyers in miami dade county are facing fierce competition. >> it's hot, getting hotter, and hopefully will get to a sizzle. >> reporter: these two have already been burned six times last year. they are looking to buy their first home, but each time they found one, they lost out to an all-cash buyer. >> it was frustrating. you know, here we are, two young people trying to move on, move up in life, start a life

together with you know -- think about the future, and it's just like -- a punch in the face. >> reporter: those cash buyers include private equity investors who are buying up homes to turn into rental properties. that means there just aren't a lot of homes for sales. >> our inventory has decreased by about 80%. the prices have increased by about 19 to 20% just in two years, and they are increasing still. >> reporter: some people are back into the house flipping game. annie made a 200,000 profit on the sale of a condo she made for just two years. then she made an offer on this home, and shaved $49,000 off of the asking price because she had the leverage that comes with cash. >> it's a win-win. >> reporter: as for these two, just when they decided to

retreat from the stress and heart ache, they got a call from their realer, and finally landed this new home. >> i couldn't feel the success of everything i have accomplished in my life until i would open the door and say this is my house. >> reporter: if they see a home they want, they better pounce before someone comes along with beater offer. and right now let's take you to the briefing at the pentagon, chuck hagel, secretary of defense. >> i also conferred yesterday with the fbi director, the attorney general holder, and president obama. first, our thoughts and our prayers are with the victims, their families, and all who have been affected by what happened

in the navy shipyard on monday. we will grieve. we will remember, and we will comfort each other. the department of defense is a strong and restill -- resilient community. in the coming days more information will come to light about what happened, about what went wrong, and importantly, what must be fixed. yesterday i directed two department-wide reviews. these reviews will be lead by deputy secretary ash carter, and we will do everything possible to prevent this from happening again. first i directed a review of physical security and access procedures at all dod installations worldwide.

our people deserve safe and secure workplaces, wherever they are. second, deputy secretary carter will also later review dod's practices and procedures for granting and reviewing security clearances. this review will be closely coordinated with other federal agencies currently examining these procedures. i have also directed that an independent panel be established. this independent panel will conduct its own assessment of security at dod facilities. the panel's work with strengthen secretary carters efforts and provide their findings directly to me. the department of defense will carefully examine the assessments, conclusions and recommendations of these reviews, and we will effectively

implement them. the navy is also conducting its own review, and those results will feed into the broader dod review worldwide. where there are gaps, we will close them. and where there are failures we will correct them. we owe the victims, their families and all of our people nothing less. thank you. >> thanks, mr. secretary. i also want to add my condolences over monday's horrific shootings at the navy yard. my heart goes out to the families and the entire navy family. while i cannot discuss the details of an ongoing investigation, i can discuss the bravery of the first responders. the most visible feets were accomplished by professionals, but there were other unscene

moments equally heroic, i was especially inspired by the story of a navy yard civilian who helped a blind colleague to safety as they exited the building in the middle of the shooting. omar refused to leave his friend behind. that's an testament to an american's character. our military family will continue to help those in need. secretary of the navy has provided designee status to those injured in the attacks. and counseling services are available for all of those affected by monday's rampage. and i look forward to your questions. thank you. >> reporter: mr. secretary and perhaps [ inaudible ], to the general public who sees the strain of events, snoweden, hah

sawn, bradleymanning, and now this, it looks as though there are incidents, there are studies, and something happens again. you did extensive studies after the hasan event, so can you talk about what changes that were not made then that should have been? are there gaps? and should we lower the bar to include more personal information in order to protect safety? where is that line? >> well, first, obviously something went wrong. that's the point of the directives i have made in the reviews that will go forward. as i said in my comments, we will review everything. and from that review, the intensity of that review, the depth and width of that review,

we would hope that we will find some answers to how we do it bett better, how can we do it better. the fact is, starting with the tragedy that happened monday, and you mentioned other tragedies, we don't live in a risk-free society, and every day, all of the millions of dod employees, whether they are uniform or civilian that come to work, help this country, tribute to the security and safety to this country, there is always some risk to that. and that isn't a good answer. they deserve the security of a safe environment. we will find those gaps and fix those gaps. so to go beyond that in the specifics areas of your questions, i would leave that to the review. there are many questions that are going to be asked, need to be asked, many reviews and the

intensity of those reviews have to go down to every aspect. the security of our physical premises, the security clearance, standards of that security clearance, are they strong enough? why do we do things the way we do? we need answers, and we will find those answers. >> i would just add that the -- to what the secretary said. in terms of what we changed after some of those earlier incidents that early indications are actually contributed to -- to a less horrific outcome. were alert noticed coordination in advance of crises with other agencies of government, training for -- for employees and law enforcement on active shooter scenarios. some of the things we did as a result of those earlier incidents, we believe actually

reaped the benefit we intended. the clearance piece is one i think we clearly have to take a look at, and the secretary as directed us to do so. >> reporter: mr. secretary do you believe the security clearance investigations are not rigorous enough? or that that ten-year time frame may be too long? and again, a question for you, general dempsey on syria, you have expressed concerns before about the difficulties in securing chemical weapons sites in syria. in even a non-hostile environment. if syria should agree to open up its sites not only to inspection but seeture by the end of this week or any time frame, just how difficult would that be? do you think it's even possible to secure those weapons during a civil war? >> on your question regarding

time frames on security clearances and the entire specifics and components of security clearances. time frame, the depth of the clearance, kind of clearance. access different clearances give individuals, we're going to look at all of that. obviously the longer clearances go without review, there's some jeopardy to that. there's no question about it. so we're going to take a look at every one of those components. >> on syria, my current role, and the -- you have been listening to a briefing from chairmen of the joint chiefs there at the pentagon answering questions about what will be done in the aftermath of the mass shooting at the naval yard. there will be three reviews. we'll have much more on that at the top of the hour. do keep it here on al jazeera.

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